Editor’s note: On Tuesday, April 26, Wayne Pacelle will be signing “The Bond: Our Kindship with Animals, our Call to Defend Them” at 7:30 p.m. at the LoDo Tattered Cover Book Store, 1628 16th St. in Denver, and at 1 p.m. at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, 2323 55th St. in Boulder.

I’ll never forget that one question during my 2006 book signing at the Boulder Bookstore, an impassioned plea from a battle-weary veteran Boulder activist sitting in the audience: How do you keep from being defeated by the cruelty in the world; how do you keep fighting the same battles and not want to just, well give up?

My answer came without much deliberation: Despite the ever-growing, gruesome stories and pitfalls, hope springs eternal with new blood – those fearless leaders in today’s modern animal protection movement.

And topping that list is Wayne Pacelle.

Wayne is a friend who I have watched rise up the ranks of The Humane Society of the United States, from having to deal with reporters at the Denver Post (I was a pushy editorial writer at another paper) as public affairs staff, to his meteoric rise to humane society president.

And now Wayne has written a book that just hit no. 11 on the New York Times Bestseller list and no. 8 on the Los Angeles Times list: “The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them” (William Morrow).

As the town that put “guardianship” on the map, Boulder readers (and many in Colorado) will naturally gravitate toward the topic. Sure, it’s validating to read Wayne write about how our natural affinity toward creatures as young children is essentially beaten out of us by a society that wants us to see cows, wolves, what have you, as unfeeling things to be farmed, shot or shoved out of the way by industries that get richer by their demise.

Today my 4-year-old wants to marry the dog; soon society will tell her that dogs are killed because it’s the inevitable cause of overcrowded shelters. And that’s just wrong, Wayne tells us. In fact, he believes we can say goodbye to shelter euthanasia of healthy dogs and cats by the year 2020.

It’s this type of moral and intellectual challenge that puts “The Bond” in the same category as other agents for change – even revolutionary books, such as Cleveland Amory’s “Man Kind? Our Incredible War on Wildlife” that has touched millions, including Sea Captain Paul Watson.

I interviewed the sea captain of Animal Planet’s highest-ranked show, “Whale Wars” on his ship and he told me that Cleveland’s 1974 book, “Man Kind?” made him believe he could change the world for animals.

The late and great Cleveland was Wayne’s mentor. And like his mentor, Wayne spent his life in the field, facing down those who commit the worst acts against animals. “The Bond” often reads like you are sitting at a café with the author, privy to the events that made headlines, such as his visit to NFL superstar Michael Vick at Fort Leavenworth penitentiary for dogfighting, or shooing the last of the wild herd of bison into Yellowstone National Park, away from government and private shooters, or protecting the baby harp seals on Canada’s ice floes from hunters wielding hakapiks.

Wayne targets the most important issues of the day, from wildlife to the horrors of factory farming, which he witnessed first hand. Wayne has built a first-class army of footsoldiers at the humane society, who have videotaped cows tortured at slaugtherhouses and tirelessly worked to strengthen laws in every state for animals (Wayne was a major player behind the spring bear hunt ban, which is being threatened in Colorado).

“The Bond” exposes so much cruelty seen over a quarter century of one man’s life, yet offers great hope in forward thinking and real changes in new laws and minds.

In all his experience, one theme sticks out, Wayne says, and it is that sacred bond between humans (or as the sea captain calls us, over-glorified Apes) and other animals who share the Earth. If we would just return to that natural, wonderful bond that my 4-year-old daughter clearly enjoys so much, a world of good can come for all of us.

So when I hear from folks dismayed over the next great setback, such as Colorado’s hunters who want to start shooting nursing ursine mothers and cubs, amazingly I don’t want to crawl into a dark closet. Instead, I think of people like Wayne and believe that good things will come.

Many were not surprised by the prompt verdict Monday in the sexual-assault case in Denver involving Taylor Swift. A jury of six women and two men concluded within hours that a Denver radio host had groped Swift _ grabbed her butt beneath her skirt during a photo shoot, as his wife stood on the other side of Swift.

Touch not that statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville. Let it stand, but around it place plaques telling the curious that the man was a traitor to his country who went to war so white people could continue to own black people.